Moving to Lawrence, KS, I didn't think it could get worse with the
chloramines. It can. Let this be a lesson that others may learn from.
Just because you think your water is bad, don't think it can get worse. I
thought my habit of doubling the dechlorinator (usually plus a little extra)
would insulate me from this, but alas, no. There must be nearly double the
chloramine content here than what I was accustomed to.
Here's the deal. In moving the tanks, I had to completely siphon out the
water due to space and weight issues. (Had to pack stuff in the tanks.)
Everything else I owned would sit in a truck for 5 days. I moved out
roughly on the 1st of August and cleaned and dried the gravel, set up shop
at my in-laws for about 2 weeks, then moved them again to Lawrence. I'm
sure I have AmQuel, but darned if I know which box it's in. Didn't realize
it would be such a problem.
Anyway, I was under the impression that the water company here put 3.5 ppm
Cl2 in the water and then stabilized it with ammonia, hence really high
chloramine content. I should have known something was up when I put out a
25 gal drum outside and put some floating plants in there, and the plants
started dissolving. I figured either I didn't count right or the container
was bigger or the plant was basically dead when I got it. Water with my
normal double the dechlorinator turned Hornwort to mush in about a day, so
my poor fish didn't have a chance.
So I dropped by the water plant to pick up some info. Apparently they don't
have glossy semi-annual reports printed up nice and pretty for the public,
like I'm used to in Illinois. Basically, what I got was a copy of a lab
report, and most of it I can't figure out. But it was somewhat interesting,
so I'll expound on it.
The city of Lawrence has two water supplies: Clinton lake (about 7800 acre
lake) and the Kansas river. Water for my house will normally come from the
Clinton plant, and I have raw and tap reports for both plants.
Interestingly, they do NOT report the chlorine/chloramine content! They do
report the Hexachlorocyclopentadiene, for what it's worth, which was not
measurable.
Interesting data (summarized).
Clinton Raw Clinton Tap Kaw Raw Kaw Tap
Ph 8.3 8.2 8.2 8.8
Chloroform ND(0.5) ug/L 36.4 ug/L 0.7 ug/L 48.6 ug/L
Bromodichloromethane ND(0.5) ug/L 11.8 ug/L ND(0.5) ug/L 8.6 ug/L
Chlorodibromomethane ND(0.5) ug/L 2.8 ug/L ND(0.5) ug/L 1.8 ug/L
Aluminum, Total 1.29 mg/L ND(0.50) mg/L 7.53 mg/L ND(0.50) mg/L
Calcium, Total 43.1 mg/L 31.1 mg/L 70.7 mg/L 31.8 mg/L
Hardness (Calculated) 145. mg/L 114. mg/L 216. mg/L 96.4 mg/L
as CaCO3
Iron, total .9 mg/L ND(0.10) mg/L 5.97 mg/L ND(0.10) mg/L
. . .
Potassium, Total 3.3 mg/L 3.2 mg/L 8.5 mg/L 6.2 mg/L
Alkalinity, Total 137. mg/L 88. mg/L 193. mg/L 45. mg/L
as CaCO3
Chloride 8. mg/L 13. mg/L 47. mg/L 48. mg/L
Fluoride 0.2 mg/L 0.8 mg/L 0.3 mg/L 0.8 mg/L
Nitrate, as N 0.8 mg/L 0.9 mg/L 0.9 mg/L 1.0 mg/L
Solids, Total Dissolved 222. mg/L 182. mg/L 466. mg/L 272. mg/L
The good news is there's no detectable lead or copper.
And Gary, how much $$ did I loose? About $15 or $20. They were from a mop
I bought from you a few years ago. Of course, it would cost a lot more to
replace them now! Anyone still have any? I lost 2 in the move and was down
to 5 and was preparing to breed a new generation.
Dan Deavours
ITTC - University of Kansas
2335 Irving Hill Road
Lawrence, KS 66045-7612
deavours at ittc.ku.edu